On November 23, a #tfwf14 classmate of mine, @hamilt35, posted an article on twitter. “Classroom innovators: the Twitter teacher,” by “The Irish Times.” As I have discussed the importance of “Zite” in my prior blog post “Educational Innovations,” here is another example of it’s asset to education. This article was posted on an Irish news website, on November 22, 2014, and without “Zite,” would have never made it to my computer screen. Zite is not the only application providing a positive academic resource, Twitter is also implemented into classrooms all around the world.
Teachers are learning how to shape their curriculum around new technologies that their students are using. This process helps teachers engage their student’s conscious effort, attention, and participation. Any college student in Rowan Universities’ Introduction to Writing Arts course, #tfwf14 #tfebt, could explain how Twitter can be used as an academic asset and an educational resource. Now, there is evidence world wide of Twitter’s positive influence on a classroom, as well as, the student’s success.
The article “Classroom innovators: the Twitter teacher,” explains the process of how Twitter can be utilized in an academic setting. “For a typical class, groups of students are asked to research a topic online and then to start tweeting facts in chronological order. He monitors quality, deleting misspelt or out-of-sequence tweets. He then uses Storify to grade and document the tweets. The groups have a sense of researching like historians, he says.” His lessons are structured around the established use of Twitter in the classroom. This creates a positive way for students to use their cellphones in class, therefore, combining the educational information of the History class with the common interests of the students. Essentially providing an efficient way for teachers to obtain their student’s effort and dedication.Porter and DeVoss express the influence of new technology on writing. “New economies of writing are emerging that promise to carry writing practices in directions that are not yet clear but which will have significant impact on basic literacy.” (Porter, DeVoss, page 195). Twitter influences student’s writing in the classroom. Instead of writing their notes on paper, the chalk board, or typing them on a computer, Twitter has provided an user friendly interface. The respond rate is almost instantaneous, allowing students to observe their classmates ideas. Twitter remediates word documents, pen and paper, and even the chalk board, because the teacher and students can read and respond to the individual comment, or post. Bolter defines remediation as “homage and rivalry, for the new medium, but also makes an implicit or explicit claim to improve the older one.” (page 23). Twitter and Zite are two new educational applications, that offer an academic resource for students of ages. Implementing student’s interests into a lesson plan can derive enveloped participation and academic success.

This blog brings up an excellent point regarding the curriculum taught in schools in relation to the standardized testing that is now required of children. “Developing diverse gifts and talents of many students is lost in such procedures and is not helped by the inevitable narrowing of the curriculum by teaching to the standards” according to the blog. Not only are teachers forced to teach to the test, most times that results in their need to exclude subjects such as art and music, where children are most prone to show their creative side. However, creativity is not just for the arts, creativity is relevant to any and all subjects when children are able to express themselves.

The blog goes on to state that “it is a creative culture, not obsessive testing and formulaic teaching that is the answer – culture counts”. Bruce, the author of this blog even includes the lyrics to the popular Pink Floyd song Another Brick in the Wall, “teacher leave that kid alone – we don’t need your mind control”. Is it really the teachers who are controlling the kids, or are they merely acting on direction from the government? (I’ll save that argument for another time, another blog post.)

By creating a creative culture, teachers and students alike are able face learning in a way that works best for them, not the general population. Teachers need the freedom to teach their students the way they are able to learn. Students need to be able to express their interests and pursue subjects creatively, and not just the subjects that are required for testing. Both of these ideas will foster a creative learning environment where both students and teachers benefit.

Once we create this culture, a new attitude toward learning will be formed. The lack of pressure applied to students will allow them to relax and engage in the learning environment rather than feeling rushed to get through massive amounts of material in a short period of time. Teachers will not feel as though they have been through the wringer at the end of the year from running the marathon of instruction prior to test season. Call me crazy, but if teachers are happy and students are happy, won’t great things come of it?

On December 4, 2014, Brooks Barnes of The New York Times, posted an article titled “Disney to Introduce New Apps Focused on Learning.” To a college student studying new technologies influence on writing, learning, and education, this title jumped off the page, and captivated my attention. However, due to my current use of new literary technologies, this metaphor is relatively obsolete. Now I have to say, jumped off the “screen,” because the article by Barnes was not posted in The New York Times newspaper. It was posted on The New York Times website, with no subscription or purchase necessary. If this is not supporting evidence of technologies influence on writing, than what is?

The New York Times website is an evident example of technological remediation. Defined by Bolter, “Remediation involves both homage and rivalry, for the new medium, but also makes an implicit or explicit claim to improve the older one.” (page 23). Do The New York Times’ online articles improve their newspaper? If I were to answer this question I would say absolutely. The networking capabilities of the Internet created an efficient and accessible news station. Ask my grandfather the same question and he won’t dignify a response. Though there are assets and complications to both sides of the news publishing processes, the importance lies with The New York Times “implicit or explicit claim to improve the older one.” (Bolter, page 23).

As well as The New York Times, Disney has had an essential influence on the public for multiple generations. Disney’s’ intentions to implement positive learning applications are similar to the progressional effort of The New York Times, and the creation of their website. They should not be viewed negatively, and according to Barnes, “Disney Publishing Worldwide unveiled a technology-driven learning initiative called Disney Imagicademy. Aimed at families with children aged 3 to 8.” The use of technology has substantially increased in children, and Disney is taking a positive advantage by providing a “learning” resource. “The media conglomerate is being careful to describe the initiative as learning and not educational,” due to “harshly criticized marketing claims tied to its Baby Einstein line.” (Barnes). Porter and DeVoss offer some support for Disney’s effort. “New economies of writing are emerging that promise to carry writing practices in directions that are not yet clear but which will have significant impact on basic literacy.” (page 195).

Disney’s application’s “significant impact on basic literacy” is yet to be defined. Though there intentions are clearly positive and progressional. Barnes explains, “Disney developed Imagicademy in conjunction with advisers like Douglas H. Clements, an expert on early childhood mathematics from the State University of New York at Buffalo.” “Imagicademy will include more than 30 app-based “experiences” centered on various subjects – math, science, language arts, emotional and social skills.” (Barnes).There are a vast variety of applications available to children, and Disney is trying to provide an app. that derives a learning process from it’s users. An unsurmountable amount of applications need parents to consciously consider the hindering interference they have on their child’s education and ability to learn. Bolter explains that the effort of improvement is the important property (page 23). “This is a substantial commitment,” Bob Chapek, president of Disney Consumer Products, said in an interview.” (Barnes). Disney’s conscious effort and commitment is clear. Imagicademy, was developed based on “learning,” and should be the last application ridiculed, as well as, accused of deceit.

Saunders gives plenty of bullet points in the article to help us with gaining productivity back when we think it’s a lost cause. She says the key is often to step back. Not to just clear your mind of anxiety, but to actually address what’s making you nervous–lack of clarity. This can be done by breaking down what you need to get done into the smallest of baby steps. “This is particularly helpful when you need to move a messy project ahead but can also work with more routine tasks where you notice a resistance to getting started.”

The nest time you find yourself thinking you’ll just stay up as late as you need to in order to get the work done, (which leads to wasting time and being sleep deprived), try to get yourself motivated, (which isn’t always necessary and can lead to more procrastination), or stick with the task but having it take waaaaayyyyy longer than it should take……remember to take a deep breath, step away from the task, and break it down into smaller steps! Here’s to happy writing!

I read an interesting article on The Huffington post titled, “How To Claim Your Inner Creativity,” by author Faisal Hoque. Hoque regularly writes articles, blogs, and papers on Sunday mornings as well as tries to outline a new book idea every summer. For him, writing is one of those happy discoveries that has helped him to “connect better with my purpose, my world, and myself.”

He writes that we have to start off with being MINDFUL.

“When you become a better observer of your own doings, you naturally develop a more realistic sense of yourself. Maybe you aren’t actually so nice to your colleagues all the time, and maybe you shouldn’t have a guilt spiral because of that.” Being more mindful helps us become an overall better person.

Along with being mindful, we must practice POSITIVE AFFIRMATIONS.

Emotions allow us to feel passion, creativity, and happiness. However, our emotions can also be our downfall. Emotions can prevent us from creating the reality we desire. If we believe we can do a task, the chances of it getting done increase immensely. The mind is a very powerful thing that many of us don’t realize the true potential of positive thought.

LEARN, UNLEARN, & RELEARN

There is a word for not knowing: ignorance. The connotation with the word ignorant isn’t a positive one. We are quick to jump to our defense if someone dares to use the word to describe us. But…what’s so bad about not knowing something? We can’t pretend to know everything. Being ignorant is just being a human being. “We can be skillfully ignorant by acknowledging that this is a complex, maybe even opaque world that we’re working in.”

The technological world has changed so much within the last 20, 10, even 5 years. I do not think that people 20 years ago really understood how much of an impact the computer would have on the people today. It seems like everywhere you turn, there is someone using some form of technology, whether it be a cell phone with smart technology a laptop or an iPod.

Sherry Turkle’s article, “Who Am We?” discusses what she found out about the internet through decades of research. She states that “we are moving from a modernist culture of calculation toward a postmodernist culture of simulation.” I interpret this to mean that in a modernist culture, people work together in person to solve (calculate) issues, and in a postmodernist culture, everything is simulated and done online. Today, we are in a postmodernist culture; people resort to using the internet for daily tasks such as writing, reading and communicating.

Turkle goes on to state that “life on screen permits us to project ourselves into our own dramas… we are using life on computer screens to become comfortable with new ways of thinking about evolution, relationships, sexuality, politics, and identity.” Technology is not only opening up new windows of how to interact with people, but it is also changing the way people think about themselves and everyday tasks.

A person’s true identity can forever be hidden with the help of the internet, which can be a very frightening and intimidating thought. People can change or hide their identity from the world by simply hiding behind a computer screen, and can even steal someone else’s identity while also using technology. Without the technology we have today, these situations would be too far-fetched to complete. An example of how we are living in this postmodernist way of life is the show on MTV, “Catfish” allows people to hide their identity and live their lives opposite of what they say they are.

Technology is allowing people to alter their identity and is used as a crutch on a daily basis. As new technology is created, I think the issue of people being attached to their technology will only get stronger.